Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all!
I've had my 1970 trav for a year now and I've found the forum very informative and amusing!
I now need some help as I'm stuck (and so is my very patient and helpful boyfriend who normally bails me out of my minor mistakes !)
I've discovered that my trav's rear valance woodwork was rotten at one end. I removed it (easy, as in two bits) and got a new, assembled one from those nice chaps at Bull Motif.
When I tried to drop it in from the load bay area it fouls on the metal brackets at the rear base of the inner wing.
I tried removing the screw-on bits at either end to give more 'wiggling' room but that didn't help.
My restoration guide just states to 'fit it' and the pic shows that everything else is assembled already. I've just stripped and revarnished all the other woodwork so i'm reluctant to dismantle the rear end any more than necessary. I've also noticed that the end pieces of the woodwork screw in from the ends and not from the rear, as in all the pictures I've seen. Is this gonna cause me probs?
Can anyone shed some light please?
Thanks!
Charlie

Is it the double rail part you mean below the rear doors, as in this photo?

Yup thats the one. How do you get it in as there isn't room to slide the bottom bit past the bracket on the rear of the wings?
I've also got to get hold of a new metal rail (black bit in the picture) as the bases on mine are rusted away (where they bolt to the floor). Anyone know who sells them? I've tried esm, bull motif and morris minor centre birmingham, websites but it isn't listed. Haven't tried calling them tho.
Cheers
Charlie

Steve Forman (Woodies) manufacture these plates.

Thanks Jonathon. I'll give them a ring. Will pick their brains re my fitting prob too. I'm now suspecting that maybe my innner wing lower brackets have been fitted too far back which is why I can't get woodwork in? Will post a pic later.
Cheers, now back to the wood preserver!
Charlie

You may well have to loosen up one side of timber at the rear, to allow enough movement to fit the rear ladder frame. Removing the metal frame will allow slightly more room , but I fear no enough

Do you mean a rear corner post? Bit scary but will have a go. Where does it fix? Metal frame is out already and not nearly enough room!
Thanks for your advice.
Charlie

If you undo all of the fixings on the base of the corner post plus the fixings on the arch flange upto the center of the rear arch you might be able to move the rear post out enough to fit the rear rail. If not then you might need to do the same on the opposite side.

Hurrah! The wood is in. We ended up doing a slight bit of adjustment to it as advised by the nice man at woodies and managed to wiggle it in. Undoing everything else wasn't working. Thanks for all your help.
Am currently refurbishing rear doors. What sealant does everyone favour for sealing the glass and ally panels? Dum Dum? Silicone?

Dum Dum, because it's flexible and you can get it apart again later. Silicone sealant would be a nightmare if you ever wanted to remove the glass or panels in the future.

Thanks Alex. Will get some more as used all of my last tin. Any ideas who the cheapest supplier is?

Reviving this on behalf of my mate who has exactly the same problem. Is there a trick to fitting the rear rail as it is tounged and grooved and cannot be inserted from the bottom due to the block on the rear post?
Reading above there is obviously a trick but it was not disclosed.
Anybody have any suggestions?

Regards
Declan

I can only upload three photos so here are the other two.
Regards
Declan